Ms. Massey sans Potatoes...... I read somewhere that she was willing to do the nude scene in the hotel room, had no idea why Hitch went with the stand in shot neck down.
Yet more? Yup. FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: FRIDAY NIGHT BOY COOL #501 Five from the group: One for the ladies.
And some more... FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: FRIDAY NIGHT BOY COOL #503 Here are the five selections from this week:
I thought I'd seen everything from I Love Lucy, but here's some shots from circa 1955 at Desilu that I had never seen before... This is a rare color shot on the set, with a Mitchell BNC film camera on the left on I think a Chapman crab dolly. Note the fill light on top, to make up for any shadows cast by the camera if it got too close to the actor on a close-up (and it also provided a little eye light for the actors). This is producer/co-creator Desi Arnaz and I think sound engineer Cam McCullough at the mono audio mixing board. It was very important that the boom mics on set picked up every bit of dialogue from the actors so the studio audience could hear what they were saying through loudspeakers strategically placed in the ceiling. They still do sitcoms this way, with the sound mixer in a glass booth at the back of the room, only now recording multi-channel digital sound. I believe this is Mr. Arnaz talking to the audience inbetween takes, in a rare shot with all three cameras visible at one time. The camera operator had to handle panning and tilting the camera for composition (using a Worrall geared head), and an assistant was in charge of changing focus when necessary, while a dolly grip rolled the entire camera into position based on tape markers on the floor. The pieces of paper taped on the sides of the camera indicated which camera was used and which scene was being shot, to help in putting the pieces together later on. [They might also have a "shot list" of things the camera operator had to do for certain scenes, but I'm not 100% sure on this -- they definitely did this with videotape shows in the 1970s and 1980s.] [pictures courtesy of Sean Brady on the "At the Controls" Facebook group]
Getty Images has a treasure trove of behind the scenes pictures. I especially like the ones from the ABC/Disney Archive.
Lady Bird Johnson, first lady of the US, greets Lassie, America's foremost female impersonator, in a pioneering demonstration of transgender acceptance at the White House (1967)
Back with some more at FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: FRIDAY NIGHT BOY COOL #505 Five carefully selected from that set: Normally I try to avoid reusing a star or director in the same bunch but I concede I failed miserably this week. As for the rest, the world's all there: Harpo Marx and a monkey, Robin Williams before the hair-transplant, Richard Widmark disguising 'bunch-up' and John Cassavetes and a guy in a bad wig.
Red Buttons, Mario Puzo, Marlon Brando Puzo seems to be dressed in 1940s style. Could be have been an extra in this scene? Or even had a speaking role that was cut?
Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, c. 1944 and the Broadway production of On The Town.